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Ethel Hallow
}}| - colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" }}}| }px } | }} }| - colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" } }} |- | style="width:30%;" | Magical Status | style="width:70%;" | Witch |- | style="width:30%;" | Gender | style="width:70%;" | Female |- | style="width:30%;" | Hair Colour | style="width:70%;" | *Brown (1998 TV Series, Weirdsister College) *Blonde (Books, 1986 Film, 2017 series) |- | style="width:30%;" | Eye Colour | style="width:70%;" | *Brown (1986 Film, 1998 TV Series, Weirdsister College) *Blue Grey (2017 TV Series) |- | style="width:30%;" | Family | style="width:70%;" | *Grandmother *Mr Hallow (Father) *Mrs Ursula Hallow (Mother) *Esmerelda Hallow (Older Sister) *Sybil Hallow (Younger Sister) *Mona Hallow (Younger Sister) *Various other Hallows |- | style="width:30%;" | Occupation | style="width:70%;" | Student Witch |- | style="width:30%;" | Actress | style="width:70%;" | *Felicity Jones (1998 TV Series- Season 1, Weirdsister College) *Katie Allen (1998 TV Series- Seasons 2 & 3) *Anna Kipling (1986 Film) *Jenny Richardson (2017 TV Series) |} Ethel Hallow is Mildred Hubble's acid-tongued rival. In their first year, Ethel takes pleasure in taunting Mildred about her inability to train her cat into riding a broomstick and Mildred responds by turning her into a pig. From then on Mildred and Ethel resent each other and Ethel vows to get Mildred expelled. So far she has been unsuccessful. She and her only friend, Drusilla, are always up to mischief, all the time plotting to get Mildred and her friends into trouble, they don't get caught as often as they'd deserve. Ethel's family have attended Cackle's for generations. Story Books In her first year at Cackle’s, Ethel is turned into a pig by Mildred Hubble after persistently taunting her about her tabby cat's inability to fly properly on a broomstick. In revenge, Ethel jinxed the spare broom she lent Mildred which caused Mildred to accidentally ruin a broomstick performance in front of Chief Wizard Egbert Hellibore. In the next term she locked Mildred and Enid in an abandoned store cupboard. In her second year, Ethel turned Mildred into a frog to get even with her for calling her family ‘weeds’. When on holiday at Algernon Rowan-Webb’s, she released a boat containing Tabby and an unconscious Miss Hardbroom out to sea; Mildred ends up saving them. In her third year, Ethel sheared all of Mildred's hair off and gave her a hair regrowth potion that caused Mildred's hair to grow out-of-control, and she also hid Tabby on the roof. In the next term, she turned Mildred's clay pot into five rattlesnakes and also stole Mildred's project, claiming it as her own. She also gets Drusilla to hide Mildred's talking pet tortoise up a tree to prevent him from revealing the truth about the project. In her fourth year, Ethel is made Lantern Monitor, along with Mildred and Drusilla, and was responsible for destroying the ballet costumes, when her tussle with Mildred caused a lantern to fall and set fire to the costumes, burning them to shreds.The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star 1986 Film 1998 TV Series Ethel comes from a prominent witch family, and has two younger sisters, Sybil and Mona. Her father is chair of the board of governors - and Ethel likes to point out his influence on the fate of the school to the staff. In her first year at Cackle’s, Ethel is turned into a pig by Mildred Hubble after persistently taunting her about her tabby cat's inability to fly properly on a broomstick. In revenge, Ethel jinxed the spare broom she lent Mildred which caused Mildred to accidentally ruin a broomstick performance in front of Chief Wizard Egbert Hellibore. In the next term she locked Mildred and Enid in an abandoned store cupboard. In her second year, Ethel turned Mildred into a frog to get even with her for calling her family ‘weeds’. When on holiday at Algernon Rowan-Webb’s, she released a boat containing Tabby and an unconscious Miss Hardbroom out to sea; Mildred ends up saving them. In preparation for attending Weirdsister College, she became head of The Cauldron Club (which is for "posh girls").Secret Society She ran for head girl in her third year, but lost to Mildred.The Uninvited Weirdsister College Ethel meets up with Mildred again at Weirdsister College. Upon their first encounter their mutual loathing resurfaces and Ethel claims that Mildred has no right to be in the college. However they become friends, except when Ethel believes Mildred is trying to muscle in on her experimental team for which Doctor Starfinder chose her personally. Mildred states, however, that she "didn't ask to be his guinea pig". Ethel and Hobbes also nearly tear Millie and Ben apart when they imprison Mildred in the Experimental Magic Laboratory and put Ben in mortal danger. The only way for Mildred to save him was to get inside his head and use his voice to remove the Locking Spell that Hobbes had put on the door to maze he had placed miniature Ben and a very large rat into. Ethel teamed up with Nick Hobbes to take over the world, only to thwart his plans in the end. She was on the team that won the Golden Cauldron, and she still has the award she received at Cackle's for acing her potions exams. 2017 TV Series In the 2017 Series, Ethel has an older sister, Esmerelda, and feels pressure to live up to her sister's achievements. She wishes she was naturally smart, as maybe then her mother would be half as interested in her as her sister. On Selection Day, in the practical test, Mildred successfully manages to levitate, after taking some of Ethel's pondweed from her scales whilst she is making her dragon potion, making Ethel wrongly turn into a worm. Mildred owns up and Ethel reveals that Mildred is from a non-magic family. Mildred fails automatically for interfering in the course of lawful spell-casting. However, Ethel does not get a second chance to take the test as Miss Cackle says she should have checked her ingredients properly. As a result, even though Ethel scored 100% in her written exam, she only scrapes a pass. Ethel is resentful of Mildred and Maud, believing it to be Mildred's fault that Maud got Head of Year and not her. In Tabby, Ethel uses a switching spell on Maud and Mildred's cats to help Mildred pass her flying test. Maud crashes as a result of flying with Tabby, but Ethel sticks up for her, saying it was her cat's fault. When the spell is revealed and Mildred is accused of cheating by switching cats and her trial is terminated, Ethel does not own up for fear that she herself will be expelled. When Maud and Mildred switch places with the leftovers of Ethel's spell and Ethel's notebook is found with the ingredients for the spell inside, Ethel is forced to confess, but is forgiven because she was trying to do something good. In New Girl, Ethel wants to be friends with Enid. Enid instead chooses to be friends with Mildred. Ethel plans to make Maud her best friend instead. She switches Maud's maglet with hers and uses it to try and damage Mildred and Maud's friendship. She intercepts a message from Mildred saying how she and Enid are going to break into Miss Cackle's office to rescue Enid's monkey. Ethel realises she can use this to get both Mildred and Enid expelled. Ethel follows them and locks them in the cupboard. She wakes Miss Hardbroom and brings her to the cupboard, but Maud and Drusilla have already let Mildred and Enid out. In Pond Life, Mildred is asked to demonstrate a transformation spell by turning a mouse into a frog, but she hits Ethel instead, turning her into a pig. When Mildred tries to reverse the spell, Ethel is turned back into herself but left with a pig snout. Ethel then turns Mildred into a frog as payback. When the truth comes out, Ethel is forced to change Mildred back. As punishment, she is temporarily turned into a frog herself, along with Miss Gullet. This only worsens the feud between Ethel and Mildred. In The Great Wizard's Visit, Ethel is showing the Great Wizard a case full of trophies. When he asks if she won them all, she admits that her sister won them, although Esmerelda says Ethel's been doing very well too, especially at broomstick flying. Ethel says she's top of the year at everything, but admits that she isn't Head of Year, and says it's Mildred's fault. Enid hears Ethel telling the Great Wizard about all of Mildred's misdemeanours and assumes that Ethel is responsible for a letter that has been sent to Miss Cackle about alarming reports of strange goings-on at Cackle's (which Mildred is always at the root of). After Mildred's potion display goes wrong, the Great Wizard is angry at Miss Cackle, and says that it may be time for Agatha to be headmistress. After the teachers leave, Enid accuses Ethel of writing the letter in front of everyone and says it is Ethel's fault that Miss Cackle is going to lose her job. Ethel, in tears, denies it. Later on, Agatha, pretending to be her sister, tells Ethel to lend Mildred her broom and put a spell on it to mess up the broomstick display. In Maud's Big Mistake, Ethel discovers that her mother is using a projection spell to attend Ethel's parents' evening appointments because she can't be bothered to come, even though she plans to come for Esmerelda's prize giving the next week. In The First Witch, Ethel fakes having a wart (the mark of a powerful witch) to try and get attention. When Mildred gets Maud's hairbrush stuck in her hair, Ethel uses scissors to cut it off. She is involved in the discovery of the first year witches' coven, the Hair Raisers, and becomes a member. Ethel is selected to compete in the Spelling Bee. She is delighted - until she realises she will be competing with Mildred. When Ethel meets Zac Hawthorn from Pentangle's Academy she is tongue-tied. Esme wishes Ethel luck on the morning of the Spelling Bee and says that she knows Ethel will do the school and her family proud. Feeling the pressure to perform well to mirror her sister's achievements, Ethel resents Mildred competing even more. Miss Hardbroom urges Ethel to take the lead in every round. At the end of round 5, Cackle's is leading 3-2, thanks to Ethel. However, in the next round against Zac, she messes up because her feelings distract her. Mildred must compete in the final, and deciding round, and casts a weather spell, causing it to rain on Ethel. In The Mists of Time, Ethel is transported back in time with Mildred in attempt to find her cat Nightstar. Mildred finds the birth scroll of the Cackle sisters - Ethel realises that the scroll was brought forward in time and wants to know what it says. In Out of Bounds, Ethel masquerades as Maud to find out, but Mildred realises it is her. Mildred, egged on by Enid, spins "Maud" a false tale and tells her she is Miss Cackle's niece. Ethel then wants to repair her relationship with Mildred. She tries to give Mildred a friendship potion, saying it is a study syrup, but Maud stops Mildred from taking it. Ethel sees Miss Cackle looking at the painting in the office when her and Mildred are in there after the incident in potions. She argues with Esme when Esme comes to check on her after hearing what happened. Ethel, who is followed by Esme, breaks into Miss Cackle's office at night and finds the scroll behind the painting. Agatha, posing as her sister, and Miss Gullet arrive at the window of the office and are invited in by Esme. "Ada" asks if one of the Hallow sisters will sacrifice their powers for her. Ethel realises it is really Agatha and volunteers because she knows Esme will take her place. Ethel then gives Agatha, powers returned, her birth scroll. When Agatha Cackle takes over the school in The Worst Headmistress, she makes Ethel head girl, but when Esmerelda is turned into a trophy, Ethel sends Tabby to Mildred with a message asking for help, and an Invisibility Potion so she can sneak into the school. Ethel has worked out that as Mildred wasn't in the school when Agatha cast her enchantments, Mildred can still do magic without being detected and help save Miss Cackle and the school. However, when Ethel, Mildred, Maud and Enid attempt to rescue Miss Cackle, they are caught by Miss Gullet. Although Mildred is undetected because she is still invisible, the others are turned into cakes and Ethel is almost eaten by Drusilla. When Agatha tries to destroy the school, all the students chant together to stop her spell, and this also changes Esmerelda, the teachers, and the grand wizard back into themselves, and Agatha and Miss Gullet end up trapped in a painting by Miss Cackle. In Tortoise Trouble, Ethel arrives at Cackle's after the summer holidays with her sister Sybil and is knocked off of her broom when Mildred's holiday project notes fly into her face. She later discovers she has left her holiday project at home by accident. She tries blaming her younger sister, and is surprised when Sybil stands up to her (Sybil believes she has taken a confidence potion). Ethel steals Mildred's project instead, thinking she will get away with it due to her reputation as the better student. However, the truth is revealed and Ethel is forced to own up. In Love at First Sight, Ethel tries to use the founding stone restore Esmeralda's powers, but taking the magic from the stone nearly destroys the school, until Mildred and Miss Mould save the Academy. In her third year, Ethel is resentful that Mildred has an award for saving the school and a new-found witching ancestry, when the Hallow name is in tatters. Ethel uses a Wishing Star to wish that she could save the school, but in trying to come true, the wish has creates a fake Indigo who threatens to destroy the school, but Mildred, Miss Hardbroom and the real Indigo Moon save the academy. Physical Appearance In the book illustrations, Ethel was depicted as a tall, skinny, and sharp-faced young girl with a very spiky nose (pointed out by Maud in ''A Bad Spell for the Worst Witch''), and blonde hair that is worn in a ponytail with a black hair ribbon. In the 1998 TV series, Ethel was shown to be quite a pretty young girl with mousy-brown hair, though she changed her appearance (a "witch-over") in her second year at Cackle's to hide the fact that she is Sybil Hallow's sister. When she attended Weirdsister College, she resumed her original appearance, and matured into a beautiful teenager who wore expensive clothes and plenty of makeup. In the 2017 series, Ethel has blond hair, usually tied in a ponytail with a black ribbon, which matches her description in the books. Personality and Traits Ethel always scores straight As in all her subjects, and gives the impression of being a model student. Though she is able to turn on the charm of sweetness and innocence when the teachers were near, her true self is spoiled, snobbish, and vindictive, for she is "one of those lucky people for whom everything goes right", and her father is the Chairman of the Board of School Governors. Hence, she regarded herself as being superior to all the other students, and fully entitled to belittle and abuse the likes of Mildred and her friends. Despite her being an indisputably excellent student (where witchcraft and grades were concerned), the teachers do not always side with her - Miss Cackle, who has a soft spot for Mildred, distrusts Ethel's charms. Even Miss Hardbroom, who approves strongly of Ethel's eagerness to learn and high aptitude for magic, admitted that Ethel's character was not one to be approved of, and has no qualms about punishing her when her nastiness gets out of control. It must also be noted that, on a subconscious level at least, Ethel was well-aware of her own flaws - while she was initially confident of a secure position at Weirdsister College, she became nervous when Nick Hobbes confided in her about the All-Seeing Eye being utilised during the college's initiation ceremony, for there was a genuine possibility of the Eye exposing her dark side in full, which in turn could lead her to lose her place at the college. As a result, she subsequently attempted to reconcile with Mildred, but they never did become intimate friends. Abilities and Skills Even before Ethel officially started at Cackle's Academy, she was a skillful flier - she flew standing up during her first flying lesson. As seen in ''The Witchy Hour'', she is exceptionally talented at spells and potions, which led to her being chosen for Cackle's team. The fact that her final grades gave her direct admittance into Weirdsister College (as compared to Mildred, whose admittance was by way of artistic scholarship) was also a definite testament to her being a skillful witch. Last but not least, Ethel played violin, and was chosen to speak for Cackle's Academy in the debate against Camelot College. Relationships Mildred Hubble Mildred was unfortunate enough to make an enemy of Ethel during her first day at the academy. In Weirdsister College, Mildred and Ethel overcome their hatred of each other and become friends. Although in the episode were Enid visits, Ethel has no qualms about snitching on them. Hallow Family Ethel has two younger sisters, Sybil and Mona. When Sybil starts at Cackle’s, Ethel told her horror stories about how mean everyone was, and that the worst witch, Mildred Hubble, would get her. Hallow family portraits adorn the walls in the great hall at Cackle’s, and there seems to be an implication of having to live up to family standards - it's notable in Weirdsister College when asked why she came to the college she responds with simply "I'm a Hallow". This is shown with her interactions with Sybil during their time at Cackles; both have to live up to extreme family standards. in the 2017 series, she has an older sister, Esmerelda. In The Swamp Troll, it's said that Ethel used to be a good big sister that took care of Sybil and who Sybil felt like she could tell everything. Drusilla Paddock A friend of Ethel's, Drusilla, makes a brief appearance in The Worst Witch All at Sea and later plays a bigger part in The Worst Witch to the Rescue where she hides Mildred's tortoise up a tree. In the TV series Drusilla is Ethel's bumbling sidekick. They are shown to be allies rather than true friends, sticking with each other because nobody else likes them. However, in the episode "The Unfairground" they they break up their friendship because Drusilla agrees with Mildred and her friends' attempts to stand up to the teachers. However, Drusilla is seen comforting Ethel after Mildred wins the position of head girl in the following episode. Barry Dragonsbane and Gary Grailquest Ethel and Drusilla are also friendly with apprentice wizards Barry Dragonsbane and Gary Grailquest; the four of them work together to bully Mildred and Merlin. Miss Hardbroom Miss Hardbroom is very strict on all of the girls except Ethel Hallow, the teachers' pet, though she will punish Ethel when she does something wrong. Trivia *Despite her hatred of Mildred and her friends, she does assist them in "A Bolt From The Blue" and "The Millennium Bug" *In the Telemovie, Ethel is mentioned to have older sisters and a three year old brother. Miss Hardbroom says that Ethel is “obviously going to be top in everything, just like her sisters.” in the 2017 TV series, Ethel has an older sister named Esmerelda. *Ethel Hallow ‘s name in other languages: French TV: Edith Aigreur French book: Octavie Pâtafiel German: Esther Edel - Esther Noble Dutch: Edith Huigel - Edith Feign Spanish: Ethel Hallow- unchanged Czech: Ethel Svatoušková Appearances *The Worst Witch (Book) *The Worst Witch Strikes Again *A Bad Spell For The Worst Witch *The Worst Witch All At Sea *The Worst Witch Saves The Day *The Worst Witch To The Rescue *The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star *First Prize for the Worst Witch *The Worst Witch (1998 TV Series) *Weirdsister College (TV Series) *The Worst Witch (1986 Film) *The Worst Witch (2017 TV Series) References Category:Characters Category:Weirdsister College Category:Witches Category:Students Category:Antagonists Category:Purple sash Category:Cackle's students